


I saw him again last night, that kid infantryman from years ago...

by BeautifulKnight



Category: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Basically the infantryman who talked to Cloud in remake trailer 2, Drabble, Drama, Experimental Style, Gen, Infantry guy talking about Cloud, Memory Loss, Mystery, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, War Terminology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 15:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14621454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulKnight/pseuds/BeautifulKnight
Summary: So I was rewatching the 2nd remake trailer and this just sort of popped into my head. When Cloud is fighting the infantrymen before he makes his daring escape on the train, one of them seems to recognize him. So I figured I would write a drabble from his perspective./////I saw him again last night, that kid infantryman I told you about? Ya know, years ago? Yeah, you know the one? The blonde one? No? Well, lemme tell ya again, ‘cause that kid was somethin’ else. He wasn’t like me… or any of the other troopers in the squad, for that matter. He tried to get into SOLDIER, twice. And you know how that is, shit’s damn hard what with all the mako…. eh, well, point is he didn’t make it or I wouldn’t be tellin’ ya this now would I?Rated for language and descriptions of PTSD.





	I saw him again last night, that kid infantryman from years ago...

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: This fic contains descriptions of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, if you are uncomfortable with this subject matter, then I urge you to find another fic!

I saw him again last night, that kid infantryman I told you about? Ya know, years ago? Yeah, you know the one? The blonde one? No? Well, lemme tell ya again, ‘cause that kid was somethin’ else. He wasn’t like me… or any of the other troopers in the squad, for that matter. He tried to get into SOLDIER, twice. And you know how that is, shit’s damn hard what with all the mako…. eh, well, point is he didn’t make it or I wouldn’t be tellin’ ya this now would I? Nah, he got stuck with the rest of us, the foot soldiers. He was real young too, fourteen? Fifteen? The other squad members agreed he shouldn’a been there. Kid never said a peep about that, or anything else really, didn’t speak to me much either, even though I slept in the bunk on toppa’ him. Odd kid, that one. He was a real shy pushover, but every now an’ then he’d do something that’d really surprise ya. Remind you why he had the balls to try for SOLDIER in the first place.

What? Oh, yeah. It’s funny, I’m not that old… 32, yeah, but the old noggin’s failin’ me. I guess being cannon fodder’ll do that to ya. Let’s see, he just had this sorta special strength to ‘im, like, oh! In those last few months of resistance from Wutai, during any of those shootouts, kid almost never took a damn break. Long after I’d run outta strength, hell, when I couldn’ even hold my gun anymore, kid kept on shootin’. He was never a particularly good shot, mind, but he could outlast ‘em all. And after a year of service, after failin’ SOLDIER an’ seeing some of the worst sights that a kid should never see, he seemed pretty damn unaffected to me. Still shy, still reserved, still quick ta’ follow orders. I was pretty damned jealous if I’m bein’ honest, ya know, with all of my shakes and… trauma? Sure, if that’s what they’re callin’ it these days, other guys have it worse though, you should see Peterson.

What happened? Well maybe a year an’ a half or so after he first showed up he got dispatched to Nibleheim… I know, with Sephiroth an’ some hotshot SOLDIER, an’ you know how that went. I woulda gone too, but I was still hurt after Corel, some outbreak we were supposed to stop but I got stabbed when I wasn’t lookin’, stupid really, but at least I didn’t go to Nibleheim… well, ya know. Reactor blew, Sephiroth went mad ‘an fire burned down the whole town. They told me what they told everyone else, that everyone there died, an’ that was that. Still felt bad for that kid though, he was so young an’ all when ‘e died. Wished I coulda’ reached out more. But, yeah. They lied. ‘Bout a few months ago my buddy Sam, who jus’ joined the infantry got sent off in to the desert outside o’ Midgar. Midgar, Midgar, he was near Midgar, and now I’m here _in_  Midgar, ironic huh? …Oh, right, I’ll tell ya. So Sam got dispatched to the desert, an’ you know how thorough Shinra usually is on the briefings, well apparently this time around, they told him jack. shit. All he knew was it was a kill on sight type a’ thing.

‘Course he wasn’t going to complain, you know what happens to those people, so off ‘e went. They ambushed some guy in an old SOLDIER uniform an’ his buddy. SOLDIER guy went down quickly, but ‘e was the only one they were told to kill. So they left his buddy an’ that was that. But here’s the kicker, Sam told me the guy they left was some blond guy. Ya know, I didn’t think much of it, ‘till last night. When my squad isn’t dispatched we’re patrolling Midgar, an’ I got assigned to Sector 8. I was patrolling the streets, ‘bout midnight, when the no. 1 mako reactor just blows… yeah, it was all over the news, AVALANCHE or whatever those fuckers call themselves. All I saw was the fireball, an’ it was far away, I barely heard the blast. All of us MPs didn’t know what ta’ do, ya see we’re not the most informed bunch, being the lowest of the low. We jus’ kinda resumed our post, waited for instructions, that sorta thing.

And, low an’ behold, ‘bout twenty minutes later some skinny-ass blond hotshot strolls around the corner like he owns the damn place with this sword that’s as big as he is! Guy’s in some sorta SOLDIER uniform, so Jackson tells ‘im to stop, an’ the guy just starts attacking. Jackson got cut down real fast, an’ Micheals…. ‘e got cleaved in two, an’ I’m not proud o’ it, but I didn’t jump in, I was a coward, and once a coward always a coward, but it probably saved my life. As the guy was cuttin’ down the other infantry guys like a maniac, I called for reinforcements. Luckily for me, they came real fast. We had the guy surrounded, he wasn’t attackin’ anymore, ‘e was circling around, ‘an when he looked at me, I realized it was that same blond kid from back then. Not dead, probably twenty or so now, sickly looking as fuck, and with those glowing eyes that those SOLDIER bastards have. So…. yeah, I was real shocked, I didn’t know what ta’ think. ‘An when ‘e looked at me, not a damn sliver of recognition. ‘An that’s what really pissed me off, ya know? Kid just flat out murdered a buncha people I knew, and doesn’t even have the nerve to recognize me. We sure as hell weren’ close, but… yeah, it was shitty. An’ I don’t know why I did it, but I say his name real quiet-like, maybe I was hopin’ he’d recognize me and decide not to murder me, maybe I wanted that shy kid back, but eh… ‘e freaks. out. Gets this wild look in ‘is eye an’ runs for it, doesn’t even try to fight anymore.

I tell ‘im to wait but he’s off and the others’ve started shooting at ‘im. ‘e runs across the street, massive sword on ‘is back deflectin’ the bullets. An’, ya know that plaza in Sector 8? The one that’s open ta’ the train tracks below it? ‘E runs to the edge, an’ he jumps onto a train as it goes by, doesn’t hesitate, cool as you please…. no, I’m bein’ serious, ‘e did it. Now I think o’ it, ‘e was probably helpin’ out those AVALANCHE terrorists, runnin’ away from the blast site…. An’ it’s bafflin’ me, ‘e shoulda died when Nibleheim burned. Maybe ‘e escaped… but ‘e was no coward, not a brilliant trooper, but ‘e wounldn’t’a run. Maybe Shinra lied about Nibleheim, who knows. But ‘e’s alive, and ‘e made SOLDIER, if the outfit ’n the eyes are anythin’ to go by, though if ‘e did, Shinra needs to feed their prized property a bit more, still can’t believe he could even lift ’is sword. But he couldn've, otherwise he wouldn't be running around with AVALANCHE. Ah! Kid just got more and more confusing as he grew up it would seem. An’ there was somethin’ else about the eyes that got me, not the glow, but ‘e reminded me o’ Peterson a lil’ bit. Ya know, when Pete’s eyes get all unfocused… whenever ‘e’s rememberin’ when ‘is old squad got killed.

**Author's Note:**

> Well I hope you all enjoyed! This was heavily inspired by "Bright Eyed Boys" by Ardwynna, so if you liked this one, you should definitely check out that story as well. I've never written dialogue like this before so this was a bit of an experiment for me, so all feedback is really appreciated!


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